How To Update Cabinets Without Painting

Beloved oak cabinets are one of the well-nigh common kitchen cabinets you volition discover…and today you might non be likewise happy to find them, lol! They are not the tendency du jour, but that doesn't mean you tin can't have your block and eat information technology, likewise.

You lot can accept an updated farmhouse style kitchen without having to either paint or get new cabinets. Wood tone cabinets also give a warmth to your kitchen you can't get if everything is white, and another benefit, easier to keep clean….white cabinets show every little finger that touched them, lol! Also, chances are your oak cabinets are solid wood and not a veneer similar many painted cabinets.

I'thousand going to share with you some of the updates I fabricated to completely change the look and feel of my kitchen.

If yous are trying to decide between WHITE or Woods CABINETS in a new kitchen or a remodel, you volition desire to cheque out my postal service on WHITE OR WOOD CABINETS? WHICH IS THE Amend Choice FOR YOUR KITCHEN. I have an piece of cake to follow guide to help yous through the process deciding on that and the other main elements in the kitchen, as well equally some bang-up inspiration kitchens to check out!

Let's get started. Here's a quick outline of all the areas I will address in this article.

HOW TO UPDATE A KITCHEN WITHOUT PAINTING CABINETS:

WINDOW TREATMENTS – Remove valances, replace due west/ wreaths.
ACCESSORIES – Use metal, greenery, & white decor.
HARDWARE – Employ black knobs & drawer pulls.
WALL COLOR – Paint a color that neutralizes the honey tone in cabinets.
BACKSPLASH – Avert bright white tile confronting near forest tones. Consider a cream toned subway tile.
GROUT – Pick a calorie-free grey to give some contrast against the tile, but to not exist likewise decorated confronting the woods grain of the cabinets.
COUNTERTOPS – Select a quartz that has minimal grain pattern as to non clash with the wood grain in cabinets.
PAINT Piece of furniture – Paint any wood article of furniture that clashes with the cabinets.

Head to our RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS Page to check out some of our favorite decor items, tools, and more than.

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UPDATE: I just finished this additional projection. I shiplapped my cabinet edge….and information technology is REMOVABLE!!!

—> Be sure to bank check out my how-to SHIPLAP WITHOUT NAILS OR Mucilage OR Skin N STICK BOARDS. And, yep information technology is made done with wood boards & is non peel due north stick!!

removable shiplap DIY update kitchen with oak cabinets without painting cabinets — Afterward!! 🙂

CLICK Here FOR THE Mail I WROTE —> SHIPLAP WITHOUT NAILS, GLUE, OR PEEL N STICK BOARDS

WINDOW TREATMENT:

Shop items referenced here in our RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS Folio.

The first thing I addressed was very simple. Remove dated valances from kitchen windows. One of the easiest ways to start to innovate a farmhouse wait to your kitchen is to incorporate wreaths over your windows.
Faux boxwood wreaths from Amazon are a not bad selection. They do a lot to simplify the overall look of the kitchen, pregnant they give an uncluttered await. I personally love burlap ribbon, so I chose that to secure my wreaths to the window frame. Again, I beloved a neutral colour palette, so burlap always works well for me! You could choose to change the ribbon seasonally…my favorite RED VELVET RIBBON would be beautiful to apply at Christmas time. Exist certain to bank check out my FARMHOUSE RIBBON DIY TUTORIAL. It will help you hands make beautiful & archetype bows for tons of uses effectually your home.
Also, a simple farmhouse sign on your windowsill adds a lot of mode without adding whatsoever counter clutter. I utilize mine as holiday decor irresolute the signs through the seasons.

ACCESSORIES:

Shop items referenced here in our RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS PAGE.

There are some really like shooting fish in a barrel means to make a large impact on the look of your kitchen with some decor items. When yous come across white kitchens styled, what you will detect is wood tone accessories, for instance there are oftentimes a series of forest cutting boards displayed. In a kitchen with woods tone cabinets, yous already have the warmth from the forest, so you lot will want to focus at bringing in a few other materials.
Some Galvanized Metal Decor Items with greenery, like Imitation Boxwood volition really begin to modify the look in your kitchen.
Another metal toned item I recommend is the Compost Bucket we got from Amazon that we use in our kitchen. If you do not already compost, nosotros have a post you will desire to cheque out where we break downwards (no pun intended) how Easy Information technology IS TO COMPOST .
One of the wood items y'all come across is a Personalized Cheese Board . These are great to display and too make bang-up gifts!
In our breakfast nook, yous will see a RUSTIC STAINED Lath SIGN that Joe made. I wanted to brand this to add some texture and involvement to the lightness of the walls in that area. We custom designed the dimensions to fit in the narrow space above our window. We have a how-to to testify you exactly how to make these signs in various dimensions using but elementary hand tools, so be certain to check that out.
Finally, a very simple mode to 'farmhouse up' your sink area is with MRS. MEYER'Due south CLEANING PRODUCTS that you tin order right from Amazon. Their labels are the perfect look to go with that style.
Below yous can see a peek into our playroom (my post showing how nosotros styled this room) that we recently updated, as well. Check out my DIY on how to make Farmhouse Manner Poster Frames that you lot can see in the picture. They are very inexpensive and easy to make!

5 fav FARMHOUSE STYLE Drawer Pulls/Knobs

CABINETS & HARDWARE:

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Since you have decided that you are non painting your oak cabinets, what can you practise to update their look? Accept a await at your hardware. Updating this can be an easy & inexpensive way to give them a facelift. Our cabinets had unproblematic black drawer knobs, which I like, so I did not change those. If your kitchen has shiny brass, silver tone or another hardware style, consider Black DRAWER PULLS. This will make a large change with very little money! All my cabinets and drawers have round knobs, so I am because switch the drawers to this fashion pulls. This article from another blogger, INBETWEENCHAOS, shows a beautiful update to the hardware on oak cabinets with a dramatic result.
I gathered some of my favorite cabinet hardware here.
If your wood cabinets are in rough shape, check out this Post from my friend at LIFEMADESIMPLE on how she did an easy process to refresh & restore them for her kitchen update.

lifemade simple cabinet restore — SOURCE: LIFEMADESIMPLE.BLOG

WALL Color:

When you are trying to pick a wall color to update the look of dearest oak cabinets, what you want to do is to downplay the 'honey', the yellow tone of the cabinets.
And, if yous are interested in a farmhouse look you know white is the wall color of choice. Nevertheless, in my stance white walls don't necessarily translate from Instagram blogger pictures to real life….they can hands end up looking similar contractor painted white walls, looking unfinished and cold.
And then, for my project….I was searching for a colour that would tone down the yellow in the honey oak cabinets, would be as light equally possible, but that would have a dissimilarity against our white trim (window and baseboard).
And, if you lot ever accept stood at a wall of pigment chips in a paint section and have seen how many whites and greys there are…you know trying to pick i is, well impossible without some advice from a professional person. And then…I took the run a risk to email Sherwin-Williams Customer Service. (I actually didn't look a respond from them, but much to my surprise….they did!) They were quickly able to directly me to what I was looking for. They gave me 3 ideas to take a look at:

SW 7568 Neutral Ground

SW 7531 Sail Tan

SW 6098 Pacer White

I settled on Neutral Ground. I actually too used Canvas Tan, one of the other colors they recommended in some other room, our part. Before you settle on a colour, ever take a wait at the lighting in your room, especially at different times of the twenty-four hours. Neutral ground really changed during the day in my house…on some walls during the solar day it tin read as a really, really light grayness tone, while on other walls during the day, it actually looks white. Our kitchen has minimal wall space that is painted, so using such a light color works, but in a room with a lot of wall space to paint, information technology might feel likewise calorie-free, and then it is always worth checking with at least a couple swatches first.

BACKSPLASH:

Click Here for my guide on picking the All-time BACKSPLASH FOR YOUR KITCHEN.

Head over to read my TOP Three RULES TO PICKING THE BEST BACKSPLASH FOR YOUR KITCHEN.

best backsplash tile — *MY FAVORITE BACKSPLASH TILE CHOICES FROM AMAZON.*

best subway tile alternatives — *Best ALTERNATIVES TO SUBWAY TILE FROM AMAZON.*

I of the most dramatic updates you can make to the overall appearance of your kitchen is to add a backsplash. And, if y'all are a lover of farmhouse style…y'all know that means SUBWAY TILE.
I knew I wanted to get in this management, only I knew I didn't want the traditional 3 x 6 apartment subway tiles. I wanted a iii 10 12 tile. I think the iii x 12 tiles give an elegance to the room, with less grout lines, you become an overall more elementary, less busy wait, specially if yous plan to utilize a contrasting grout color.
I also wanted tile that had some texture to information technology. This adds so much to the overall look, I really love this style. It looks handmade, which gives information technology a beautiful finish to your walls. Just, my favorite affair that it does is it gives a lot of lite play and reflection that yous can't go with a flat tile.
At the fourth dimension I was searching for tile, I had a terrible time finding what I was looking for…a three x 12 subway tile, w/ a textured face, and a foam tone. I did not desire a white tile, I wanted a softer tone to the room and one that complements a woods tone cabinet.
If you are going to do a subway tile backsplash with wood cabinets, I really recommend taking a await at some samples of white versus cream to see the difference of how that piece of work side by side to the woods.
I eventually was able to find exactly what I was looking for from TILEBAR. I can't say enough about the service I got from them. Their shipping was very fast, which I really appreciated because right before starting the project my contractor, David A. Wible Contracting, recommended a pencil trim (I am so glad I did, information technology gives a beautiful, uncomplicated finished await.), so I had to gild it every bit the project started and information technology came within just a couple days! Whew!! Crisis averted! I have besides emailed them with some questions and take gotten prompt replies to assist me, which I really capeesh from a company. The tile I chose is LANCASTER VANILLA. Information technology is just cute!!! I highly recommend checking it out!

GROUT

When designing your backsplash, one of the virtually difficult decisions tin be what colour grout to use. I really ended up making a concluding minute change to my programme.
Initially, I thought I would go with white grout, since my goal was a simple, uncluttered, clean look. Merely, when the tile was installed, I institute I really liked the way it looked without the grout…which was a darker look in the areas to be grouted. I was totally unprepared to on a whim get searching for grout colors, simply I am so glad I did.
I ended upward picking a grout color called 'oyster grayness', a light greyness shade. It kept the lite look I wanted, but gave the dissimilarity I found I actually liked, too.

COUNTERTOPS

Changing your countertops is definitely an investment, so depending on your budget for your kitchen project, you may or may not choose to brand a change here. Our kitchen already had granite counters, and then that was not something I was making a alter to.
But, what I did practise to update the look was to add together a quartz top to our center island. I wanted something that would non compete with the business of the granite and wanted something calorie-free and with a small amount of horizontal veining. I searched local countertop stores in my area and found what I was looking for with Cambria Ella.
I ordered a remnant piece with a little overhang on each side from the original height to the table and all that was involved in installing was to exercise a lite sanding on the table top and and so use some silicone caulking to secure it in place. Information technology really was a very easy DIY! ==>READ HOW TO ATTACH GRANITE TO WOOD TABLES Hither
The biggest tip I have for you with a project similar this is to shop around!!! I was quoted prices more than 3 times the corporeality I concluded upward paying and that was even for a lesser quality surface material. It is definitely worth putting in a lilliputian time to call and look around before purchasing solid surface countertops.

PAINTING FURNITURE

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Although I didn't paint our cabinets, I did paint our dining table in our breakfast nook. It was a generic dark stained table that I wanted to lighten upwardly to coordinate with the new expect in our kitchen. To starting time, I did a lite sanding of that table and chairs and and so wiped information technology down with a damp microfiber textile.

Next, I painted everything with a Bonding Primer. It is worth taking this extra step on something like a dining tabular array that will get heavy use to aid go the best adhesion of your paint.

I then painted two coats of Olympic 1 Paint. I used SW 6385 Dover White on the table base and chairs. This white works great in the lighting in my breakfast nook and great room, merely exist sure to check it out in your space…whites will testify very different in different lighting. This 1 has quite a chip of xanthous in information technology, but in my lighting the yellow does not show. For the tabular array top, I used SW 7019 Gauntlet Grey and it worked perfectly. I wanted a grey that was darker and had virtually a slate wait to information technology. I used a satin finish.

This biggest tip I tin can give with painting furniture is do not over brush. Get the paint on and let it go, it will flatten out itself as it dries. When yous proceed brushing over what you already painted, you will take a trend to remove paint from the surface and terminate upwards brushing ridges into the finish, which you practise not want. These chairs were a bit of a handful to paint, to be honest…so many nooks and crannies to try to get into. I ended upwardly using a foam brush on the chair backs, which worked better than a bristle castor for that task.
UPDATE: I did non seal the table set for a number of months, I wanted to see how it wore and knew if there was an issue, I could touch it up. After a number of months, I decided to seal the tiptop with POLYCRYLIC I ordered from Amazon. I just did the peak, equally I was concerned that over time I might have issues from wet from glasses with condensation sitting on the superlative. I did not notice whatever damage, simply when spectacles were left I could see a ring where the moisture was that would dry and disappear, but I figured that would not be adept for long-term wear. Information technology was very simple to practice, I did a couple coats with a foam castor.
I have additional detailed information on painting furniture here –> HOW TO Pigment FURNITURE.

How pretty are those flowers?!?! They are all from our native plant garden!! Nosotros have some corking manufactures and videos to share our beloved of native establish gardening, and then be certain to head to our NATIVE Found folio and our GARDENING TIPS folio.
It has been a lot of fun working on our kitchen, the well-nigh recent matter we got done was the quartz island tiptop. I originally thought I would want to paint the wood on the island base, but in one case the quartz was on, I really similar it as-is. I think it ties it together nicely with the cabinets….but, who knows…give me a few more than months and maybe I'll desire to change it up. One more affair on my to-practise list as far as painting in the kitchen is to pigment our stools for the island. They are dark stained wood like the dining table used to be, then now they exercise not coordinate with anything. My plan is to paint the stools the grayness color similar the dining table top. Exist sure to check back for an update to this article when I get those done.
UPDATE- I still oasis't painted the stools….I haven't been able to make up one's mind which way I want to get…hello indecision! haha! I'thou now toying around with stripping the cease and trying to bleach the wood. Let me know if yous take ever tried that!

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Keep reading to larn my easy method to help yous decide between WHITE & WOOD CABINETS, and to pick out the best floors, walls, and countertops to complement your cabinets.

Be sure to cheque out some other great farmhouse DIY articles:

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Thanks for reading. I expect forrard to hearing most your kitchen updates! Be sure to annotate and let me know what changes y'all endeavour!

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Tara Foster

Hi! I'thou Tara, half of the Growit Buildit duo. I am a frugal DIY enthusiast!! My professional background is in education and counseling, merely have spent the final few years as a stay at abode mom, which has given me the opportunity to explore my passions that take been put aside for and then long. I gravitate towards what I'd consider modern farmhouse fashion, with a little boho mixed in. I have planned remodels for larger projects, like our kitchen, as well as many smaller DIY projects effectually our business firm. In improver, I create a lot of smaller craft projects. I am currently a maker for a local retail boutique in our area called 6ix North. I hope my posts provide you with some useful information for your DIY projects.